Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Paint The Town ❯ The Continuing Mission ( Chapter 14 )

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is the property of Square-Enix. No profit is sought from this work.

 

Paint The Town

 

 

The summons came bright and early on Monday morning. Thou art hereby summoned before the presence of the Almighty. Don't keep him waiting.

 

Of course not. It was always the unfortunate lackey who was to be kept waiting instead, and the `holding area' below the office was not comfortable. Bullets and bite wounds Zack could handle with ease but the slow sensation of numbing buttcheeks was a completely different matter. It was almost a relief to finally go in and stand at perfect attention while the President took his time admiring the view.

 

Easy, easy, Zack reminded himself. It was standard dramatic flair, that carefully crafted stateliness, the reminder that the peon's time did not matter. Zack had enough flair of his own to appreciate the setup.

 

The man turned - never too hurried - and gave Zack a looking-over that might have made another man squirm. Zack was tempted to strike a pose just to see what the reaction would be.

 

“Fair, is it? What progress are you making on your assignment?”

 

“There have been no further attempts on the General's life, sir.” Zack did not miss a beat. He'd had enough time to practice in the hall.

 

The President nodded thoughtfully. “No direct attempts or no attempts at all?” Zack had to remind himself that for all that the man was a tub of lard with a receding hairline, he had not raised a company into a global superpower by luck.

 

“No direct attempts, sir,” Zack said, breathing deep, straight from the diaphragm to minimize the tense jerk of his collarbone, “and no evidence of anything else.” Maybe, quite likely in fact, somebody out there was plotting to take Sephiroth out, but only the General himself had ever made an actual attempt.

 

“There's nothing suspicious around him then?”

 

Only if you count a secret sweet tooth and a tendency to dabble in designer pharmaceuticals. Zack clamped down on the thought and shook his head. “No evidence of snipers, spies or assassins, Sir. The last crackdown may have driven them off.”

 

“So you think the danger is past, then? That is was a one-time thing?”

 

Just like that, Zack felt his little honey of a job slipping away. He did the only thing he could and lunged for it. “It's possible the culprits are regrouping, sir. The General is not an easy target.”

 

“Of course.” Shinra turned back to the window. “Is there anything else about him, SOLDIER?”

 

“Sir?”

 

“The General. Any odd habit? Strange tendencies?”

 

Zack's mouth went dry. His momma never did like him lying but ingrained honesty was not exactly a safe trait in his line of work. He had to bite his tongue to keep the truth in while he thought it over. “He's… a bit tense, sir.” There. That was true enough without giving away the details.

 

“Hmm, dangerously so, or just stressed, do you think?”

 

Zack chose his words carefully. “I'd put it down to post-war adjustment, sir, but my opinion is hardly professional.”

 

“Possible, quite right…” The President seemed to be drifting. Zack felt the urge to sweep the room for Turk presence. He strained his ears but could hear only two heartbeats and a fly hitting the glass in one corner in a suicidal bid for freedom.

 

“Are you happy with this assignment, SOLDIER?” Shinra asked suddenly.

 

“Yes, sir!” Zack did not hesitate. “Any SOLDIER would jump at the chance to work directly under the General.” The President had a smirk that Zack couldn't really say he liked.

 

“Good. Continue as you have been doing, SOLDIER, and see if you can do something about that… tension.” The smirk grew a fraction wider. When the dismissal came, Zack found it as much of a relief as being finally summoned in.

_________________________________________________________________ _______

 

Time: 1 hr 7 mins

 

Music: Rod Stewart - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy

 

Notes: It lives! Sort of. I never meant to abandon this but it just slid away while the compilation was growing. I'm pretty sure by now that Crisis Core is set to `decanonize' a lot of this but that's okay. Nothing a little AU tag can't fix. ;P Fun with Zack and Seph this began and fun with Zack and Seph it'll stay. Oh, yes, I'm using `Fair' instead of `Donovan'. I hope the switch isn't too jarring, but I'm so happy Zack finally has a last name (and Fair jokes are so much fun). I might go back and edit sometime because `Zachary Donovan Fair' isn't a bad name at all, IMO. XD